Our Team
Kirsten DeLeo
International Trainer, Meditation Teacher and Author
Kirsten is a pioneer in contemplative care, lead faculty for Authentic Presence and author of the award-winning book Present Through The End. A Caregiver’s Companion for Accompanying the Dying. Kirsten has worked as an educator, counselor, volunteer chaplain and volunteer coordinator in hospice and palliative care. In early 2000, she helped pioneer Authentic Presence. For more than two decades, Kirsten served as a senior trainer with the Spiritual Care Program, a network offering contemplative education and care worldwide. A longtime Buddhist practitioner, Kirsten deepened her experience during a Three-Year meditation retreat. She is a member of the Harvard Buddhist ministry working group and currently co-chairs the European Buddhist Union chaplaincy network. Kirsten grew up in Germany, studied Literature and Hakomi mindfulness-based psychotherapy and lived for many years in San Francisco and US East Coast. She now lives with her family near Dzogchen Beara Meditation Centre in West Cork/Ireland.
Dr. Ann Allegre
MD, FACP, FAAHPM
Former Director of Medical Programs, Kansas City Hospice, Medical Director of Palliative Care, Providence Health, Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine, University of Kansas School of Medicine, and Spiritual Care Educator. Ann was awarded the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine “Project on Death in America Community Leadership in Palliative Care Award” in 2007, in recognition of her outstanding contributions to the advancement of the field of palliative medicine through the education and training of future leaders. She was named as Fellow of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine in 2008 and honored with the Hastings Center Cunniff-Dixon 2011 Award in the senior palliative care physician category.
Chantal Bergers
MD
Chantal has worked with dying people in her eighteen years as a general practitioner and in recent years in nursing homes. She has been a palliative care consultant and teacher for over ten years and is a member of the European Association of Palliative Care (EAPC) Taskforce Spiritual Care. Chantal is a trainer in Deep Listening and an educator in the Spiritual Care Programme offering skills training and workshops on death and dying in Holland and Germany.
Katie O’Connell
CNS, MSc. Interdisciplinary Palliative Care, End-of-Life-Care (EOLC) and Spiritual Care Educator/Trainer.
Katie facilitates NMBI accredited EOLC and Spiritual Care training modules for care-assistants, nurses and allied health-care professionals.
John Douglas
Counselor and Meditation Instructor
John is a Senior Meditation Instructor and Spiritual Care Educator and facilitates courses and workshops including Facing Loss and Healing Grief, Deep Listening and Healing Relationships. John is also a Pre-Accredited member of the IACP, working in private practice as a Counselor in Castletownbere and in ARC Cancer Support House in Bantry as well as being part of the care team supporting guests at the Spiritual Care Centre at Dzogchen Beara, Ireland.
Youske Eto
LCSW
Youske has supported and accompanied terminally ill patients and their families as a hospice social worker for the past 21 years. He is a Spiritual Care Educator and currently the lead social worker at Housecall Providers Hospice in Portland, OR. Prior to pursuing his MSW, Youske served as a Peace Corps volunteer in West Africa, volunteered for the Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta, India, and worked as an outreach worker for those experiencing homelessness in New York City.
Dr. Angela C. Anderson
MD, FAAP
Angela is a graduate of the Authentic Presence’s Contemplative End-of-Life Care Certificate. She is currently an Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Emergency Medicine at Brown University and Director of Pediatric Pain and Palliative Care at Hasbro Children’s Hospital. She received her M.D. degree from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Cleveland, Ohio and completed her residency in Pediatrics at Yale Medical School. She then completed fellowships in both Pediatric Emergency Medicine and Clinical Toxicology and Pharmacology at Harvard Medical School and Children’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. She is quadruple boarded in Pediatrics, Pediatric Emergency Medicine, and Clinical Toxicology, and Hospice and Palliative Care Medicine. She has received the Excellence in Teaching Award from the National Emergency Medicine Residents' Association, the Dean’s Teaching Excellence Award from Brown Medical School and the Outstanding Mentor Award from the National Center of Excellence in Women’s Health.
Christine Longaker
International Trainer and co-founder of the Spiritual Care Programme
Former director and staff trainer of the Hospice of Santa Cruz County in California, Christine has provided hospice training internationally since 1978. She is the author of Facing Death and Finding Hope: A Guide to the Emotional and Spiritual Care of the Dying, which is translated into nine languages.
Dr. Karen Wyatt
MD and Author of What Really Matters: 7 Lessons for Living from the Stories of the Dying
Karen is a family practice physician who spent most of her 25-year career in medicine caring for patients in challenging settings such as nursing homes, hospices, free clinics and homeless shelters. Dr. Wyatt hosts an online interview series entitled End-of-Life University, which features interviews and conversations about all aspects of the end-of-life. She has won numerous awards for her volunteer service including the Spirit of the American Woman Award and being named one of Utah’s 100 Notable Women.
Rosamund Oliver
BA, Dip Psych, ECP, International Trainer
Rosamund Oliver qualified as registered psychotherapist and supervisor in 1996 and trained psychotherapists for five years at the Karuna Institute in Devon. As a UKCP psychotherapist and supervisor, she had a large practice for private clients in North London for many years. She also worked in psychiatric care focusing on bereavement with the elderly. Her education work includes tutoring at St. Josephs Hospice, teaching meditation and mindfulness skills, creating a prison meditation project and three years developing the first Buddhist-based psychotherapy training in South Africa. She has done extensive training in meditation since the 1970’s with various teachers and schools.
Andrew Warr
Meditation Teacher
Andrew has had a regular meditation practice for 40 years and has been studying and practicing Buddhist meditation since 1982. He has been teaching meditation for over 20 years and since 2001 has been leading courses, seminars and retreats, principally on the subject of loving kindness, in Europe, Australia and North America.
Dr. Ian Gawler
OAM BVSc MCounsHS and Author
Ian is one of Australia’s most respected authorities on Mind-Body Medicine and meditation. A long-term cancer survivor, Ian co-founded the world’s first lifestyle-based support groups for both cancer and multiple sclerosis and expanded his work and writings into the fields of disease prevention, health and well-being. He also established the first Australasian Mind-Body Medicine conference for health professionals. Ian is the author of 6 bestselling books including the classics, You Can Conquer Cancer and Peace of Mind.